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The West Defaults
On a Big Pipeline Match

By

Vladimir Socor

Updated May 23, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

Following the same strategy that worked well for gas, President Vladimir Putin has at this time secured a virtual Russian monopoly over the transit of Caspian oil to Western consumer countries. This trend makes a farce of the Western policy of "multiple pipelines." Unless the monopolization is reversed, we can expect adverse economic and political implications for consumer and producer countries alike. The solution lies not only in building and long-planned westbound pipelines from Azerbaijan, but -- at least as...